Ukrainian Armed Forces Are Burning The "land Bridge" To Crimea

• 15.06.2026, 14:58

Since May, there have been about 200 attacks on fuel tankers and trucks.

The commander of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces Robert Brovdy promised to “isolate Crimea” in the near future, and his subordinates are stepping up strikes on the “Novorossiya” federal highway leading to the peninsula. Additionally, medium-range drones are being used to cut off supplies of weapons, fuel, and equipment to frontline units. According to confirmed video footage, since May, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have carried out at least 375 strikes on trucks, fuel tankers, and other vehicles in the occupied territories, writes Financial Times. More than half of these attacks, according to French open-source analyst Clément Molen, took place on the “Novorossiya” highway, which runs to Crimea from Rostov-on-Don via Mariupol and Melitopol.

The intensity of the bombings is increasing. Earlier, Molen estimated that approximately 125 trucks were hit on the highway during the four weeks of May. In June, one of the main targets became the final section of the “land bridge” to Crimea—the bridges between the Kherson region and the peninsula. Satellite images from Planet Labs dated June 12 show how, in Chongar, trucks are heading from one of the two permanent bridges to a pontoon bridge laid across the river.

There is no traffic on the second, larger bridge. It was shut down after several strikes over the past week and a half. On Monday, May 15, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed “governor” of the occupied Kherson region, again reported damage to two bridges as a result of a nighttime drone strike and the suspension of traffic.

Ukraine is rapidly expanding its drone arsenal, and in recent months, medium-range drones capable of striking targets up to 200 km away have taken on the bulk of the workload. Among them are American Hornets, which, despite carrying a payload of only about 5 kg, are equipped with an AI-powered guidance system. They are mainly used to target fuel tankers and other vehicles in “Novorossiya.”